I've had my New Idea 484 for about 3 years with only very minor problems (mostly bearings going out), but I ran into the my first "show-stopper" a couple of days ago. I had cut about 10 acres of hay with the intent to roll it, and when I hooked up to the baler and ran through my pre-op checklist, the string tie arms would not move in.
To clarify, the baler uses a linear actuator controlled by the baler monitor to tie the bales. The monitor has a toggle switch (basically an on-off-on 3 position reversing switch) that controls the arms. Hold the switch to the left, and the arms move to the position to start tying at the center of the bale. Then move the switch to the right and the tie cycle starts. This portion has a feature that pulses the movement, so all I have to do is hold the switch and the arms move out, tying evenly. The speed is adjustable via another knob.
At any rate, the "arms out" movement wouldn't work. I check all of the connections, and then applied power directly to the linear actuator, and it worked. I ended up setting an auxiliary switch (an off the shelf on-off-on switch for a winch) and fed it to the actuator so that I could at least manually tie the rolls. This got me through getting the hay up, but I need to fix this permanently.
I've looked online for replacement monitors and some are available, but in excess of $1000. I've sent some emails to salvage yards and am waiting to see what comes back there. However, if all of that falls through, I would like to make my temporary repair "more permanent". Unfortunately, I've exhausted my knowledge of linear actuators, and when I search for information, the is so much to go through, I'm not sure where to start.
Which brings me here.
In short, can anyone tell me what type of component I could use to make the linear actuator "pulse" like the old control box made it do? Is this something simple like a resistor or potentiometer or some other type of component? Would it typically vary the voltage (everything is 12 volt, by the way), or would it just turn the voltage on and off intermittently?
Sorry for being so dense about this, but I'm guessing there is something that would do the trick for me that is a lot less expensive than a replacement monitor.
I appreciate any help that anyone can offer. Let me know if I need to present any other information.
Good luck and take care.
To clarify, the baler uses a linear actuator controlled by the baler monitor to tie the bales. The monitor has a toggle switch (basically an on-off-on 3 position reversing switch) that controls the arms. Hold the switch to the left, and the arms move to the position to start tying at the center of the bale. Then move the switch to the right and the tie cycle starts. This portion has a feature that pulses the movement, so all I have to do is hold the switch and the arms move out, tying evenly. The speed is adjustable via another knob.
At any rate, the "arms out" movement wouldn't work. I check all of the connections, and then applied power directly to the linear actuator, and it worked. I ended up setting an auxiliary switch (an off the shelf on-off-on switch for a winch) and fed it to the actuator so that I could at least manually tie the rolls. This got me through getting the hay up, but I need to fix this permanently.
I've looked online for replacement monitors and some are available, but in excess of $1000. I've sent some emails to salvage yards and am waiting to see what comes back there. However, if all of that falls through, I would like to make my temporary repair "more permanent". Unfortunately, I've exhausted my knowledge of linear actuators, and when I search for information, the is so much to go through, I'm not sure where to start.
Which brings me here.
In short, can anyone tell me what type of component I could use to make the linear actuator "pulse" like the old control box made it do? Is this something simple like a resistor or potentiometer or some other type of component? Would it typically vary the voltage (everything is 12 volt, by the way), or would it just turn the voltage on and off intermittently?
Sorry for being so dense about this, but I'm guessing there is something that would do the trick for me that is a lot less expensive than a replacement monitor.
I appreciate any help that anyone can offer. Let me know if I need to present any other information.
Good luck and take care.
